The W.R.I.T.E.R. Process – the foolproof way to write your book

Our W.R.I.T.E.R. Process is practically foolproof – so long as you already have a very detailed structure for your book as a blueprint to work from.

The best way of getting one of these is by attending either one of Lucy’s BookPlan workshops, or working one-to-one with a trained Rethink Press coach, in a one-day BookPlan Intensive. In either version of these BookPlan days you will have worked through the A.U.T.H.O.R. model (Attention, Understanding, Trust, Help, Original, Reaction) to clarify your core market/readership and their Central Question; and position your book so that its Big Promise is clearly what your readers are searching for. You will also have produced a detailed book structure in the form of a “contents page” that lists every section of 500 words in your (approximately) 30,000-word book.

Once you’ve got a detailed plan, or contents page, following the W.R.I.T.E.R. Process can easily get your business or self-development book out of your head, onto the page, polished and ready for publication.

New authors, and some experienced ones, often have difficulty getting their book (or indeed any professional writing job) written and completed. One of the main reasons is that they fail to see the writing process as a series of distinct steps which need to be taken in a specific order. They try to do too much at once, in the wrong sequence, mixing up tasks, and find themselves bogged down in a chaotic situation from which it can be difficult to emerge.

Working from a detailed book structure, with an achievable writing schedule that you stick to by getting into a writing habit, you can complete your business or self-help book in as little as 16 weeks, using the W.R.I.T.E.R. Process,

Here is an overview of The W.R.I.T.E.R. Process:

Write – Before you start writing, you MUST create your Book Plan (the A.U.T.H.O.R. model is the one to follow for this) – a detailed chapter-by-chapter outline of your book which includes a consistent and repeatable format with all your section headings and estimated word count. Only when this is robust and complete can you start the “creative” writing process and get your words flowing out onto the page.

This first draft doesn’t have to be brilliantly written, it just has to be written. Limit your self-editing and internal critic in order to produce the quantity of content you require. So just get your first draft out of your head and onto the page without stopping to edit, review, research… If you know you’ll have to revisit certain parts, just leave yourself a note in the margin.

“Don’t get it right – get it written!”

Lee Child

Review – Don’t mistake this step for proof-reading or editing; reviewing is looking through your book with the perspective of a reader rather than a writer. Read through and look for any gaps, repetitions, inconsistencies or obvious errors and make notes. Check the word count and if you need to remove stuff, cut it and paste it into a separate “brain dump” file. Any material you trim may still come in handy later for another chapter, an article, blog post or press release.

Improve – Work through your book a chapter at a time, using your Review notes, to add, remove, re-order or sharpen up content. You can work on your style, too, but this is not your main focus at the moment. When you’ve done as much as you can on one chapter, stop and move onto the next. Again, it doesn’t have to be perfect at this stage.

Test – Now’s the time to get some feedback on your improved first draft. Ask no more than six trusted colleagues, clients, authors or anyone who falls within the potential market of your book, to read and give you honest feedback – both positive and developmental. If possible, give them a deadline to get back to you and some key responses. Take all feedback as a useful learning experience.

Edit – Process all the suggestions made by your “beta readers” and decide which to implement. Make structural or major content changes first. Then print your manuscript out and proof read it in hard copy; you will pick up more errors this way. Finally, work through your document slowly, checking each sentence, as well as paragraph, section and chapter, for sense and structure, and implement all your hard-copy proofing.

Repeat –As many of the steps, but particularly 4 and 5, as often as necessary. Editing could take as long as the initial writing process. Definitely pay for a professional edit as part of a hybrid publishing package or before submitting to a traditional publisher or self-publishing your manuscript.

Make a start by working back from your deadline, create a schedule for completing your book based on the six steps of the W.R.I.T.E.R. model.

If you want a free copy of the full W.R.I.T.E.R. Process, or to find out more about a BookPlan Intensive, contact lucy@rethinkpress.com